Introduction

Swimsuit season may be over, but Apple's new Late 2012 iMac has been working on its beach bod. Slimming down to a wafer-thin 5mm at its edges, the newest iteration of iMac is by far the slimmest of its kin. We are very curious what sort of diet could cause such a drastic change, so we opened it up to find out!

Add Comment

In case you haven't heard, the new iMac is really thin…kinda. At its thinnest point (around the edge), it is 5 mm thick. At its thickest, though, it is over 4 cm thick, more than 8 times the thickness of the edge.

Since the new iMac is barely thicker than a CD itself, it does not include an optical drive. However, it still does sport a plethora of ports:

Add Comment

We find what appear to be cooling vents on the back of the rear case hidden behind the "foot." Unlike previous revisions, the vent is rectangular instead of circular.

Even though there are vents at the bottom of the rear case, our guess is that the fan is somewhere in the middle of the iMac—where it's fattest. These slots are probably the exhaust vents that spit out air drawn in from the bottom.

Hiding above the Apple logo, we find the small dual microphone grates.

It's listening; it's always listening…

This iMac's model and EMC numbers hide in their usual spot under the foot: A1418 and EMC 2544.

To open the new iMac, you've used a heat gun and guitar picks to get past the 'adhesive' holding the display down. You conclude that: "you'll have to masterfully peal off the old double-sided sticky tape and apply new tape in order to reseal this iMac back into original condition". Most think that the display is somehow glued to its aluminum case, and then must be re-glued after operating on the internals.

By carefully examining many of your photographs, as well as those of Kodawarisan and others, I suggest that the joining of the display to the case may really be some form of a simple micro Velcro fastener that can be released without destruction by heat or brutal force, and unnecessary joint replacement!

If it is indeed a Velcro joint lining the sides and the top, but not the bottom of the display along the aluminum 'chin', then I suggest that the opening proceed as follows: the suction cup holders should be applied to the bottom square corners of the display, not the top rounded corners as is usually done. The force needed to open the case at the bottom is considerably less than if it were applied to the top rounded corners – this is because there is no Velcro lining along the bottom edge of the display. Note that in the magnetically attached displays there are no magnets along the bottom edge of the display. Similarly, the magnetic joints can be opened with much less force if the suction cup pullers are applied at the bottom instead of the top rounded corners. Finding a proper release of such a Velcro joint would greatly simplify the opening, and closing, of the iMacs.

I hope you carefully re-examine the tapes lining both the display and the case, and see if these could possibly be Velcro tapes. If these really are Velcro joints this is a simpler and better, and much cheaper way than using magnets. All it takes is to know how to properly open a Velcro joint. Maybe you will be able to put away your heat gun, guitar picks,and replacement tapes for future iMacs!

Add Comment

Repair faux pas alert! To save space and eliminate the gap between the glass and the pixels, Apple opted to fuse the front glass and the LCD. This means that if you want to replace one, you'll have to replace both.

Consolation prize: repairs will no longer involve cleaning dust or fingerprints from the LCD and glass during reassembly.

The fused display may look awesome, but at what cost, Apple? At. What. Cost!?

The cost is quickly apparent: cutting open the display destroys the foam adhesive securing it shut. Putting things back together will require peeling off and replacing all of the original adhesive, which will be a major pain for repairers.

Fusing the front glass to the LCD screen means the display looks awesome because there are fewer reflections caused by the air between front-glass and LCD. The image is clearer with fewer reflections. The LCD is also much easier to correctly calibrate using an external display calibrator. Thus fusing the front glass and LCD creates a superior user experience - the Apple experience.

The downside is you can't just use off-the shelf LCD parts to repair this. But then, the superior user experience completely makes this trade-off worthwhile.

Add Comment

A rubbery housing is lightly adhered to the edges of the hard drive beneath the upper and lower hard plastic bezels.

This design is far different from what we've seen before. Since the internal components are more tightly packed than before, small vibrations may carry through more components. The rubber housing dampens the vibrations from the spinning hard drive so they are not perpetuated throughout the device.

Add Comment

You might already know that we carry a 54-bit driver kit to handle any of your mechanical fastener needs. What you might not know, however, is that the included extender can be used to provide extra torque to remove tough screws—such as those holding down the power supply board inside the iMac.

This board takes the readily available AC voltage from your wall socket and converts it to tasty DC voltage for the iMac to consume.

Add Comment

As we mentioned earlier, the newest iMac features not one, but two microphones.

Dual microphone technology has been utilized in mobile devices for years to cut out background noise during phone calls. Now, the same idea is being applied here to improve sound quality during intimate FaceTime chats with your mother.

It's not often that we see the microphone(s) and webcam for a computer disconnected from each other. That modularity means positive points towards repairability.

Add Comment

The speakers may look simple, but removing them is nerve-wracking. For seemingly no reason other than to push our buttons, Apple has added a barb to the bottom of the speaker assemblies that makes them harder-than-necessary to remove.

After sufficiently wracking all of our nerves, the speaker assemblies allow us to remove them from their sick beat dropping enclosure.

I pulled out the Left speaker, Disconnected the power switch from the power supply and pulled out the speaker, What I failed to look at was that the wire is not part of the speaker but wraps around it and attaches to the power button, Now looks like I need to find a power button cause I ripped the wires out pretty hard.

Add Comment

Looks like this is where Apple's proprietary SSD connector should reside.

Placing the SSD from the 13" MacBook Pro Retina Display confirms this notion. If the shoe fits...

We purchased the "bargain-basement" version of the iMac. We're assuming that the more-expensive version—one that has the built-to-order Fusion drive option—has this connector soldered onto the board, and a 128GB SSD placed into said connector.

It's been confirmed that the Fusion Drive technology is software based and not the same as a Hybrid Drive. The two drives are separate, and act as one drive via software. Separating them allows for both SATA3 connectors to be used, and allows for more efficient bandwidth for your data, when it moves from one drive to the other. Also, if one portion of the Fusion Drive fails, it can be replaced. So iFixit is correct in their assumptions.

Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but do I spy a pair of SATA power and data ports immediately to the left of the RAM chips (as seen in staps 18 and 21)???

As much as a spare SSD connector would be quite handy (as mentioned in step-24), would it nevertheless be possible to install a 2nd SSD via the (apparent) SATA ports that I mentioned above, or possibly through a Y-Splitter via the HDD port?

Any Idea if it'd be possible to install OWC's Aura Pro SSD there? For example, if i were to buy the 21.5 inch iMac with a standard 5200rpm 1TB HDD, and then install my own SSD in the supplied connector, would it still work?

.

.

I'm assuming that with the 27 incher, the 768GB Flash option from Apple will be using this connection? So i'm also thinking that it would just be a much cheaper option of buying a cheaper SSD from elsewhere and installing it myself? Any thoughts?

I found a connector for SSD there on my iMac that came with 1TB HDD! Found it when I had to remove the main board to upgrade the Wi Fi card to 802.11ac:) I might be very lucky or some base 21.5" iMacs have the connector even though the one in this teardown didn´t have it.

Add Comment

Though the rear case is the last piece we reach, it's where the design of the new iMac began.

In order to carefully join together the pieces of the case, Apple turned to friction stir welding, a process previously reserved for applications such as ship building and aerospace.

Friction stir welding is more like joining clay than welding—it doesn't melt the workpieces, but rather softens the area between them and forces material together, creating a strong weld with no weakened heat affected zone.

At a minimum can you let us know if removal of the stand is either the same or can it be removed at all to install a VESA adapter. If I have to take a hacksaw to this thing then I will be rethinking buying it to begin with.

Could you guys get the same tools apple has for their service tech to remove the LCD. They do not used heat gun at all. It's a type plastic round wheel mounted on a plastic handle. They just more it around between the monitor and the chassis end the monitor is easy removed.

I took my iMac to an Apple Store in France for a mainboard replacement. I won't say where, but when I actually saw it, the glass was chipped quite badly at the base, where the metal touches the glass. So it does happen. Had a tense conversation with the manager and they replaced the screen/glass.

Alas a month later apparent RAM problems (beep beep beep, machine refusing to go oo sporadically). They then changed the ram, saying it was unrelated.. 3 weeks later the ram issue resumed... AppleCare, to their credit, almost immediately then offered to replace the whole machine which i didn't expect but it's a relief. Im sure my iMac situation was unusual, but things dont always go as planned when a problem starts and they start ungluing these machines and moving bits about!

Based on the images of the screen being taken off and the aluminum case, it does appear there could have been magnets used in lieu of the foam. I'm wondering if an entrepreneurial site (cough: iFixit) might be able to come up with a custom kit that replaces the foam with a magnetic mounting kit? ;-)

This model marks another low for Apple systematically manufacturing unserviceable computers and other devices. So much for "green" Apple (beautifully designed cardboard box the contents of which are nigh to impossible to upgrade by the end user). Imagine needing a guitar pick to pry the screen off a $1500 Mac! This is planned obsolescence at its worst. Why couldn't they have put a port on the back so that drive and ram could be upgraded or replaced.

Don't get me wrong, I am not too inept to break out my heat guns, putty knives and spudgers.I believe it's just criminal how Apple is gluing and special screwing their products together in China, and the average Joe American cannot replace a hard drive or add more memory without a complete teardown. Stop dumbing your products down, Apple!

Looking at the picture in step 8 and seeing where the RAM is located in the later pictures, would it be possible to change out the RAM without lifting out the logic board? It looks like there's a gap big enough to reach in an unlatch them. And is there any special voodoo with the hard drive (do you need to use the same manufacturer or could you replace it later with any other)?

Can anyone comment on whether not the new iMacs are VESA compliant? I wanted to mount one of the new 27" iMacs on my existing swing arm that is attached to my workstation. I can't tell from any of the literature is your are still able to remove the base on the new models.

More a question for Arman. Obviously they didn't weld the stand in. So just saying no is not enough. Can you at least indicate if the stand can be removed as part of Apples design, and if so then the answer is yes we can fabricate an adapter.

Being adventurous as most, I instead elected when replacing a 1 TB to 3TB HDD in my 2010 27" iMac to have an authorized dealer (hence no warranty problems!) replace it for $55 (I bought my drive) .... less then the cost of combined iFixit tools. FAR less hassle doing it myself. I was able to satisfy my vicarious voyeuristic self by looking at all of your tear down photos!

This is a inexpensive option for those that want the upgrade with out the hassle, or worry of voiding your warranty.

It's not that I am adventurous, I have replaced LCD in my original macbook and top cover on Power Book, however the older I get, the less hassle I need in my life. When I get my new 27", I'll have it done the same way, all will be Apple Care warranty ok upgrades by dealer

Resources

Repairability

Stay in the loop

It's time to speak out for your right to repair

We have a chance to guarantee our right to repair electronic
equipment—like smartphones, computers, and even farm equipment. This is a once-in-a-generation
chance to protect local repair jobs—the corner mom-and-pop repair shops that
keep getting squeezed out by manufacturers.

Join the cause and tell your state representative to support Right to Repair. Tell them you believe repair should be fair, affordable, and accessible. Stand up for your right to repair!